Abdul Rafid
Michael Druffel
FIQWS- Political Science
September 23rd, 2019
Transculturalism, Cultural hybridity, and Globalization in Iranian Films
In today’s world, globalization has allowed for heightened cultural diffusion and the hybridization of cultures between civilizations. When studying globalization and cultural hybridity, however, one question often gets overlooked: How does cultural hybridity affect people in a society that is hostile to certain foreign influences or is very isolationist? Iran, for instance, is a country rich in culture, art, and history that went through a revolution in 1979 that attempted to semi-isolate Iran from foreign influences and revert it back to a traditionalist Islamic state. I believe the study of Iranian films can help depict how cultural hybridity has affected the people in Iran as it is an aspect of Iranian art and culture. Iranian films after the Revolution of 1979 can be used to study how cultural hybridization has affected the culture and identity of the people in Iran when politically, they’ve become more traditionally Islamic and more hostile towards foreign influences, especially western influence. We can examine gender, specifically women, depicted in these films to better understand how, if at all, the conflict between transculturalism and the state isolationism has impacted the lives of ordinary people and minorities. I argue that studying the cultural evolution of Iran and how it continues to be shaped by modern globalization can help us answer the question of how cultural hybridity exists in an environment that is against cultural globalization. In closing, I believe closely examining Iranian films can help shed light on the reach of globalization and its various impacts on people.
Bibliography
- “Cfp: Call for Papers.” Cfp | Call for Papers, https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2019/09/09/transculturalism-cultural-hybridity-and-globalization
